The perceived absence of a vision for the service, combined with a dominant culture viewed by its members as strongly focussed on bureaucracy and process, potentially compromises the ability of these CTs to respond proactively to the needs of people with IDs. Given the changes in legislation, policy and practice that have taken place since CTs were established, it would be timely to revisit their role and purpose.
Multiprofessional working is a central aspect of current health and social care policy.A key aspect of teamwork is role perception. This article presents the ®ndings of a small-scale study of occupational therapists' perceptions of their core roles in specialist learning disability teams. It presents the views of community occupational therapists regarding the roles of other team members. The ®ndings of this study suggest that occupational therapists emphasize their and other health and social care professionals' uniqueness through role delineation. There was little evidence of integration of roles and/or joint working. Recommendations are made to enhance multiprofessional working that should ensure that professionals respond more effectively by providing person-centred quality services.
Purpose
While “generic” community teams for adults with learning disabilities (CTs) are well-established in the UK, very little recent evidence is available about any aspect of their work. As part of a larger project about the role, structure and functioning of CTs, the purpose of this paper is to provide data about referrals.
Design/methodology/approach
Over three months, the authors obtained data about 270 consecutive new referrals to five CTs in a countywide integrated health (NHS) and care management (local authority) service.
Findings
The 270 referrals related to 255 individuals, mainly already service users, with almost a third (30 per cent, n=204) described as people with severe or profound disabilities. Consistent with the reported living arrangements (residential accommodation or with one or more family members (87 per cent, n=270)), referrals were most often made by social care staff, General Practitioners or carers. The referrals related to a wide range of issues including mental health and/or behavioural needs, physical health and skills, and independence. The major group, however, were requests about a person’s entitlement to specialist learning disability services and/or reviews of an existing social care package.
Research limitations/implications
The focus on new referrals and the exclusion of intra-team referrals mean that the data are not representative of a CT’s caseload and cannot be used as a basis for resourcing. Nevertheless, the findings emphasise the heterogeneity of the population, and the long-term and varied nature of their needs, meaning that CTs require access to a range of expertise and, often, an inter-agency approach. The implications for service design are considered.
Originality/value
This is the first empirical study of referrals to specialist integrated (health and care management) community learning disabilities teams in England.
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